"LEARNING HOW TO PRAY"

We can laugh at that kind of thinking. But I wonder if that's how Jesus' disciples felt when they said to him, "Teach us to pray...." They had seen Jesus at prayer. And they saw the amazing peace and power he possessed! And they knew that leaders - such as John the Baptist - had given their followers special prayers to say. They wanted all this, too. To have peace and power and to share something special with Jesus. So they said to him, in essence, "Clue us in to your secret. Show us the tricks so we can pray like you do!"

Only thing was...Jesus didn't have any tricks or secrets. All he had to share with them was the truth. When they said, "Teach us how to pray," as we have this exchange recorded in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus gave them...just as he gives to us...the basics of prayer.

I've found in the past that "learning how to pray" is always a topic of interest in our churches. Offer a class or a sermon series on that topic and people will come expectantly. When it's explained, however, that there are no tricks or secrets beyond practicing the basics, people lose interest quickly. I think sometimes when we say we want to learn how to pray, what we really mean is, "How can I learn the magic words that will cause life to happen the way I want it to?" Or "What can I do that will convince God to grant my wishes?" "I hear all this stuff about praying" - you know people say, 'Pray for me' or 'I'll pray for you' or 'Just pray about it' - and I want to know how to use this to my advantage."

One of the basic lessons Jesus offered about prayer - one that we all need to be mindful of - is that to really pray, one must really understand the nature of God and God's relationship to us. Too often we say we're praying to God when actually we're seeking Santa Claus, a genie in a bottle or the Wizard of Oz! If we do the right things or say the right things then our prayers will be answered and if we don't, they won't. That's not reality!

When we pray we are communicating with God! God!! You know...the one who created us? The one who know us completely...who knows, Scripture says, the number of hairs on our heads? Think of that wonderful reading we heard from Psalm 139. "O Lord, you have searched me and known me. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely. You formed my inmost being. You know my soul." What could we ask for in prayer that God doesn't already know we want? What need could we have that God is not already aware of?

More than that...more than the knowledge God has of us...a basic part of the nature of God is the love God has for us. That's the point Jesus was making in that story he told - that parable we heard this morning about the person who went to the neighbor's to borrow some leaves of bread and the neighbor, who's all nestled into bed with his family sleeping all around him, doesn't want to get up to get bread! But the person's persistence finally convinces the neighbor to get up and help.

Now this story gets widely misinterpreted to mean that if we badger God enough about something then God will finally relent! Persistence in prayer is admirable in that it helps us...but it isn't what gets God's attention. We've already got God's attention. Jesus tries to explain this when he goes on to say that if we as human beings - with all our selfishness and reluctance to do good - can be convinced to help others, how much more, he says, will our heavenly parent who loves us with a love that surpasses anything we could ever imagine, how much more will God give to us when we ask?

You know how when you want to study something at a college or university, there are often pre-requisites you have to take - more basic courses that will lay a foundation for the more advanced subjects? Like "Basic Composition" has to come before "Analysis of the 18th Century European Novel" and "Introduction to Earth Sciences" has to come before "Studies in Genetic Engineering?" Well, if "prayer" is the course we want to master, then "God Loves Us" 101 is a pre-requisite.

Margaret learned that. Margaret was a participant at a two-day spiritual retreat for moderately retarded adults. God's love was the theme of the retreat, and the program included not only nature walks and crafts, but also an introduction to silence and contemplative prayer. When it was announced that the group would hike to the meadow, sit quietly among the grasshoppers and cornflowers, and wait for God, everyone was excited. Everyone, that is, but Margaret. With a loud groan, this assertive, frustrated child-woman reluctantly fell into line.

The happy campers trekked off through the woods on a sunlit morning. Then, just as they stepped into the meadow, Margaret screamed, "No!" and fled back into the woods as fast as she could go. The staff counselors all looked as each other with a familiar resignation and one woman shrugged as if to say, "I'll go," and took off after Margaret. She went back through the woods and eventually found Margaret perched atop a picnic table in an abandoned shelter. "Now I don't have to be quiet!" she grinned triumphantly.

Feeling exhausted and impatient, the counselor replied, "We can have our quiet time here." A powerful debate ensued:

"We can't. God's in the field!"
"God's big enough to be in both places."
"But it's dirty here! Look at all the dead leaves!"
"God made the leaves and loves them."
"But there's somebody's muddy boots!"
"God doesn't mind muddy boots."
"But lady, I've been bad!"
"God loves you just as you are."

Silence. Then a small, amazed voice. "Yeah? Then I'll be quiet." And she was - voluntarily - for ten minutes, after which she whispered, "Jesus is our Savior. Amen."*

How often we run when we find out that prayer means coming before God and being silent. Just letting God be with us where we are...even in the midst of the dead leaves and muddy boots in our lives. When we finally hear the good news, "God loves you just as you are," only then can we begin to pray.

In knowing God's love for us we can then begin to understand the true purpose of prayer: to draw closer to God...to receive God's spirit in our lives...to conform our desires to God's - not vice versa! Prayer isn't about getting what we want - it's about discovering what God's wants. Prayer is not about getting God to open the door and let us in - it's about opening our door and inviting God in! In all that talk about asking and seeking and knocking, Jesus is presuming that we understand: prayer is a search for connection to God and submission to God: nothing more, nothing less.

There's a shrine in the French Pyrenees where people come to pray for healing. A war veteran who had lost a leg appeared at the shrine sometime after World War II. As he hobbled his way along the street to the shrine someone said, "Look at that silly man! Does he think God is going to give him back his leg?" The young man overheard the remark and turned toward the speaker and said, "Of course I don't expect God to give me back my leg. I'm going to pray to God to help me live without it!"

Jesus made it clear: what God offers to us through prayer is God's self! God's power...God's peace...God's perspective. To seek something other than that is to show a real lack of understanding for what prayer is for. Prayer is communication with God for the purpose of connection and submission to God. Not for the purpose of changing God but for the purpose of changing us. We don't like the sound of that...but if we go into that place of change with the assurance of God's love for us - of God's desire for only the best for us - then we don't have to be afraid of any change that may come. We can seek it openly and willingly. We can learn to say, "Thy will be done," as Jesus always did.

Beyond that...Jesus didn't offer a lot of rules about what prayer should look like or sound like or when it should happen. That's all been human stuff, added along the way. I read a cute story about three pious ministers. They were talking about prayer in general and the appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking a telephone repairman was working on the office phone system in the background. One minister shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship. The second suggested that she thought real prayer was always conducted on your knees. The third suggested that they both had it wrong - the only position worth its salt was to pray while stretched out flat on your face.

By this time the phone repairman couldn't stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was forty feet above the ground, dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole!"

We don't know much about the content of Jesus' day-to-day prayers...because, Scripture says, he usually went off to pray by himself...where he could be alone with God. But when the disciples said, "Teach us to pray," Jesus did offer them a sample pattern for prayer. Now over the years this prayer that Jesus taught has come to be seen as the ultimate Christian prayer. We say it. We sing it - we're going to sing it at Communion today. But the truth is, Jesus probably didn't intend for this to be a mantra, repeated by rote without any real understanding of its contents. Rather, he was offering to the disciples - and to us - a teaching about the kind of attitude we are to bring to our prayer and the kinds of things about which we should be concerned in prayer.

Think of the ideas contained in what we call, "The Lord's Prayer." Regarding God as our holy Parent - open and accessible to us, with love and a desire for our greatest good. Keeping our focus on God's dominion - God's will and God's ways. Putting God before everything else in our lives. Seeking God's help in obtaining our short-term needs and facing our day-to-day struggles. Confessing our sins and freely sharing God's forgiveness. These are the things Jesus teaches us to do in prayer.

The truth is that learning how to pray is a lifelong pursuit. But when we begin to truly pray as Jesus did - asking for God to direct our prayers and our lives...seeking connection with God before anything else...knocking constantly on heaven's door because there's nothing better than "hangin' out" in God's loving presence - then we will find that God will give us everything we want and more...because we won't want anything more than God!

Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of heaven and everything else you need will be taken care of!" Amen.

(* The story of "Margaret " was written by Sarah Fershee in the devotional book, The Road to Emmaus)

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